In the drawings of the heel and toe sections it will be noted that I have shown the web tied to the crossbars with twine. This is not a permanent feature, for when the center of the shoe has been filled these strings may be removed.

Snowshoes require care, not only while in use, but at other times as well, as they are strung with rawhide; a material very susceptible to heat and moisture. If the shoes are not dried thoroughly after becoming wet, the stringing will rot, while if dried too rapidly the filling becomes brittle and breaks when put to a strain. In camp snowshoes are suspended from the ceiling by a wire, because mice will eat the filling if they can reach them. Shoes should be watched closely for worn strands and when a string looks dangerously weak the shoe should be repaired at once.

AN INDIAN TOBOGGAN

For winter travel over deep snows there is no better sled in the world than the Indian toboggan. For the trapper during winter it was often indispensable, and without it the native hunters of the North would find great difficulty in getting their furs to market. All through the winter season the various trading posts were visited by the trappers, many of whom had traveled hundreds of miles on their snowshoes with their heavily laden toboggans. Arriving at their market, they sold or traded their stock of furs, and likewise disposed of their toboggans, reserving only their snowshoes to aid them in their long tramp homewards.

Building an Indian Toboggan

The first need is a board about eight feet in length and sixteen or more inches in width. Oak is the best wood for the purpose, although hickory, basswood, or ash will do excellently. It should be planed or sawed to a thickness of about a third of an inch and should be free of knots. If a single board of the required width is not easily found, two boards may be used, and secured side by side by three cleats, one at each end and the other in the middle. A single board is much preferred, if it can be had.

Next, seven or eight wooden cross pieces of a length equivalent to the width of the board are needed. Four old broomsticks, cut in the required lengths, will do the trick perfectly, and if these are not available, other sticks of similar dimensions should be used. The two side pieces are needed next. These should be about five feet in length, and of a thickness exactly similar to the cross pieces.

Next, procure a few pairs of leather shoestrings or some strips of tough calfskin. With these collected we now begin the work of putting the parts together.

Begin by laying the cross pieces at equal distances along the board; across these and near their ends, lay the two side pieces, as seen in the illustration.

Using a drill, bore four holes through the board, beneath the end of each cross piece, and also directly under the side piece. It’s a good idea to mark the various points for the holes with a pencil, after which the sticks can be removed and the work much more easily performed. The four holes should be about an inch apart, or so disposed as to mark the four corners of a square inch.

It is also necessary to make other holes along the length of the cross pieces, as seen in the illustration.

The line on these can also be marked with the pencil across the board and the holes made afterwards. These should also be an inch apart, and only two in number at each point; one on each side of the stick. When all the holes are completed, turn the board over in order to complete preparations on the other side.

The object of these various holes is for the passage of the leather shoe-strings we will use to secure the cross pieces firmly to the board.

In order to prevent these loops from wearing off on the underside, make small grooves on the underside connecting the holes. This allows the leather string to sink into the wood, where it will be protected from injury. A narrow chisel is the best tool for this purpose. When the underside is finished the board may be turned over and the cross pieces and sides again arranged in place as described above.

Secure the pieces to the board by the leather strings through the various holes, always knotting on the upper surface and taking care that the knots are firmly tied. The ends of all the cross pieces will require a double cross stitch through the four holes beneath, in order to secure the side pieces as well. This is plainly shown in the small diagram (a). The front end of each side piece underneath should now be sharpened to a point to allow for the bend at the front of the toboggan.

The cross piece at the front end should be secured to the underside of the board, so that as it bends over it will appear on the upper edge, as in the illustration. The board should then be bent with a graceful curve, and thus held in position by a rope or strip of leather at each extremity of the end cross piece and attached to the ends of the third cross piece.

If the bending is difficult and there is danger of breaking the board, an application of boiling water will render it pliable. The draw-strings are finally attached to the ends of the second cross piece, and the toboggan is complete.

It may now be laden with two or three hundred pounds of merchandize and will be found to draw over the surface of the snow with perfect ease. For coasting over the crust there is nothing like it.

SHELTER

FORTS AND TRADING POSTS

Once the trappers and traders were able to get their expedition West to beaver country, their immediate task was to offload their gear from the myriad of boats in their flotilla—all the supplies, tools, trade-goods, and other impedimenta—and to establish a trading post or base camp from which to operate. The trading post was much more than a sort of general store in the middle of the woods. It also served as the enterprise’s headquarters in the field, as blacksmith and carpenter’s shop, stock yard, warehouse, and sometimes as a military post.

The location or site of the post was of critical importance; the choice of which often spelled success or failure for the venture. The trick was to get as far West, well enough into beaver country, for it to function both as a point of transshipment—trade goods in, furs out—as well as a hub or center from which the company trappers worked, and to which the independents and native peoples could bring their pelts to trade.

The first consideration was to find a spot on high, well-drained ground, close enough to a river or other good sized waterway so as to permit reasonable access to transport to and from the post, but set far enough back from the bank so that it was not washed away by every spring flood.

Since the post was nearly always constructed of wood, there needed to be a good supply of timber at hand. A secondary source of fresh water—a nearby creek or spring—was a big advantage.

Defensibility was also an important consideration in citing and building a post. A stout blockhouse, stockade, and a clear field of fire were three elements upon which the physical security of the post or fort most depended.

STOCKADE BUILDING

First stake out the perimeter of the stockade. Nearly all forts were constructed as rectangles.